Indietro Nel Tempo
by obsidianagirl
Summary: Hermione discovers the truth about her former Headmaster and realizes just how deeply his machinations have affected those she holds dear. Is it really the darkest blood magic if it saves the lives lost to the chess match of a power hungry wizard?
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

If any were to happen upon the girl, covered in dust with her head bowed over the ghastly large tome, they would think nothing of her 'bit of light' reading. It was not a rarity to find her thus and, after all, it was a very common place thing, but no one would happen upon her. Not here anyway.

So, she took no care to hide the heavily rune scribed cover. She feverishly read the words aloud with not a thought to listening ears. She'd been sure she would find the answer here, in his library. It had taken nearly a week to break the wards he'd placed on the dreary two-story home known as Spinner's End, but she'd done it.

It was another week before the little house elf made her presence known causing Hermione to shriek like the highland banshee that Hagrid, poor, dear dead Hagrid, had found so sweet last term. In all fairness, Hermione had scared the timid, little elf nearly as badly as the elf had scared her. Having searched the house from ridge pole to cellar by that time, but finding not even a living spider; it was nothing short of terrifying when she opened tired eyes to stare into the bulbous eyes of Dorie.

The little elf had come to her on the morning of the seventh day of Hermione's stay as she lay, in what had been her professor's bed and felt hope slipping from her like so many of her friends that final night, just two weeks past.

Dorie watched and rung her hands as each syllable uttered by the girl became increasingly dark. She shouldn't have shown young miss the book, kept so hidden, Sir would hate- but Sir was not here; Sir was lost to her now. Except that as she watched young miss lifted her head and Dorie could see the girl's mind whirl with calculations, her eyes sparking with understanding and determination as she stared into the distance, just as Sir's had always done.

"It will take an enormous amount of power and control," Hermione spoke speculatively as her eyes fell to the aged parchment beneath her fingers. "I'll have to prepare, Dorie." With trembling hands the girl set the book beside her on the floor and bowed her head between her knees. "I'll need to know him…All of him; he must be made to trust me."

"Sir is not one to trust, young miss." Dorie twisted her hands in the dish towel she wore. "Even if he could, it would profit you nothing to go to him. The war is over… Sir is dead. Why meddle?"

"That is why," the girl slammed her palm onto the floor with a loud smack. "He died, horribly! I cannot-The look in his eyes." Hermione clutched her other hand to her chest. "He was happy to die. The life he led…So that we could all lay our heads on our pillows and toddle off on our merry way as heroes! They call him traitor, murderer and death eater! "

Dorie wiped the tears from her own cheeks as the girl spoke of her Sir's ending. She had been with Sir from the minute he was birthed. Had rocked him to sleep when Master had beaten him for his strangeness and Mistress would not care for the child. "Dorie is loving, Sir! Dorie is knowing Sir was good and light!"

"They don't," Hermione whispered. "He will ever be what Dumbledore made him. Dorie, it isn't right."

"Sir was just needing someone...Dorie always loved little Sir but Dorie is elf it was not the same. Sir needed wizard love. Dorie thought Sir would find it at Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry." The house elf covered her bulging eyes as fat tears splashed onto the hardwood floor, "Oh, Little Sir!"

Hermione was touched by the little house elf's grief and found herself clutching the tiny figure to her as they both cried. When the tears dried and they were both puffy and splotched Hermione gingerly stood with the exhausted elf still in her embrace and carried her up the creaking stairs to the professor's bed. Gently, Hermione tucked the elf in before shucking her denims and crawling in the other side. The room was dark and Hermione nearly asleep when Dorie's voice sounded with conviction from beside her, "Dorie will help Sir's Miss twist time; for Sir."

Hermione reached across the mattress and grasped the gnarled little hand, "Thank you!"

"Dorie!" Severus Snape bellowed as he entered Spinner's End in a swirling maelstrom of ebon silk robes. It was not hard for any that looked upon the dark man to see he was beyond irate. With ruthless disregard for the fine fabric he ripped the clasp open and shrugged the robe from his shoulders; a flick of angry fingers and it winged its way to hang from the coat tree. Heading purposefully into the interior of the main floor, Severus called out again. "Dorie, Where…"

The agonizing cry of a woman, echoing through the house from upstairs, froze him mid-stride and mid-rant. As quick as a snitch his wand was in his hand and he'd vaulted over the banister to take the stairs two at a time. Coming onto the landing his eyes opened wide in shock, "Dorie!" He thundered.

For, there, upon his bed stood his house elf wielding a ritual dagger and carving into the arm of a young woman whose cries struck terror in even his darkened soul. In two long strides he was beside the bed and reaching for the hilt of the blade, intent on ending the girl's torture. His fingers never made contact as the girl who lay stretched naked across is bed caught his wrist in a surprisingly strong grip.

"Sangue nel tempo eterno," his house elf's normal high pitched voice was gruff and low as she chanted along with the whimpering murmur of the girl. "Due cuori attraverso il sangue del puro intrecciate ," Dorie made another cut as the two incanted the spell in perfect harmony, "Attraverso gli occhi aprire la mente e sappiamo tutti!" Their voices rose upon the last word and magic flared in the room as Dorie continued to carve the ritual symbols into the girl's arm.

"Anime montate," Dorie called and the girl answered, "e spiriti uno."

"Sementi," Dorie cut another symbol as she uttered the next word and was answered by the pained voice of the girl, "e terreno fertile."

"Bianco," Dorie muttered.

"E nero," was the reply and it continued in this vein.

"Caldo"

"E freddo"

"Benedizione"

"E maledizione"

The girl's blood filled the earthen bowl and where it had once run freely was now slipping sluggishly from her mutilated arm. Severus was relieved when the two voices joined once again as one calling, "Maschio e femmina si incontrano."

It was only then that he understood the words uttered in tandem by elf and witch, dark blood magic prickled along his spine and he felt his body harden, responding to the intrinsic call of the ritual. Fear touched his mind as his eyes met the golden brown pleading of the witch's. Her fear that he would not understand licked at his mind like fire as she showed him what should come next. Clearly, he saw the final details of the ritual. The binding of her soul to his across time required two blood sacrifices; he searched for the reason behind this madness, but she held it away from him, demanding that he complete the task before allowing him answers.

With a growl he pulled his mind from hers and raked his eyes over the writhing woman's body. Her only modesty in the ritual was the large tome spread open across her hips and thighs. Her breasts were unrestrained and tipped with turgid peaks; the pulsing magic shivering her skin and puckering her nipples. Her chest and abdomen were marred by the cross-hatching scars of a familiar curse. Her left forearm rested over an earthen ware bowl which collected her life's blood and would carry the marks made upon it by the ceremonial dagger for all time.

Why was she here? Did she know…Did she understand that she was essentially binding herself to him in slavery? That if he did as she had shown him she would be subject to him in every life here after? Did she know that if he refused her, and did not complete the ritual, healing her elf inflicted wounds with his blood, she would be lost from this time as well as her own; ceasing to exist for all eternity? Letting his eyes slide back to the warm, glassy gaze he welcomed her mind as it slipped into his again with an ease that made his body throb. Already the magic was working to bind them through this life, without a drop of his answering blood, if he submitted to the call they would be irrevocably bound in every life until the end of their souls. Understanding tickled his thoughts, she understood…She knew it all and still she lay before him ready to accept his decision.

Severus found himself offering his left forearm to the house elf that raised him. He hardly felt the magic that swept over him removing his shirt and jacket. When the tip of the blade nicked his wrist and drew a line upward toward the dark mark that had inexplicably begun to darken three weeks previously, he let his voice join theirs as the repeated the incantation. Watching his blood mingle with that of the witch, Severus pressed the gaping wound on his arm to the rune carved forearm of the girl; eliciting a pleasured moan from them both. He felt his eyes fall closed as the magic warmed and turned sensual as his blood sealed the girl's wounds and he smiled as she gasped and shivered as though in release.

Dorie continued the chant without them and sometime later, how much later he didn't know, Severus slumped over exhausted. He could feel his arousal demanding satisfaction, twitching with need of the girl, but he restrained the baser need as his forehead came to rest on the trembling shoulder of the girl. He thought perhaps he ought to move away from her as their predicament was highly inappropriate, his body was throbbing to take her properly, but darkness crowded his consciousness and he soon found himself succumbing to sleep's grasp.

Severus Snape came awake with a start; his eyes instantly open and alert. Focusing on the puckered flesh, mere inches from his nose, he frowned. Had he fallen asleep with one of the Knockturn Alley whores? No, he surmised when he let his gaze widen and found that he was, in fact within his gloomy house, in the dark dampness of his dingy room with his head pillowed upon the bare breast of the woman sharing his normally solitary bed.

The oddity of his position puzzled him for a moment before the events fit themselves together into a most disturbing picture. Pulling away to sit up he mourned the loss of the soft flesh along his cheek; which, made him frown. Narrowing his eyes on the sleeping form beside him he catalog what he found.

The tome that had protected the girl's modesty had been removed and she now lay before him completely exposed. She was young, perhaps, barely older than a seventh year Hogwart's student, but she sported the tell-tale scars of battle. Without conscious thought he reached out and traced the thickest of the scars that traversed from her left hip diagonally across her belly to the full globe of her right breast ending just below her pert nipple. Who had used that particular curse on the girl? It seemed an abomination to mar such fresh, beautiful skin with such an ugly curse.

"Dohlov," was the murmured answer to his unspoken question.

Unnerved, to have been caught unawares again by this woman-child, Severus rolled smoothly from the bed. Striding stiffly to his wardrobe he withdrew a fresh black shirt; angrily he thrust his arms into the sleeves and fastened the column of buttons. Pausing to study the unmarred section of his arm that had recently been open and bloody in completion of the ritual, not even a smear of blood remained.

"Pr-professor," the title uttered so weakly brought a hiss to his lips as he turned on the girl.

"I do not know who you are," his silky smooth voice caressed each syllable as he stalked toward the prone figure on the bed. "I do not know from whence you came…What evil are you?"

Hermione tried to focus on his words, but she'd used every ounce of her magical power crossing over and she was spent both in mind and body. Her limbs felt like lead and her mind, usually so quick felt thick, her thoughts like treacle. "Not…" Her voice was a breathy whisper.

"We shall see," Severus sneered, lifting his wand. "Incars-"

"No," Dorie's voice interrupted him appearing between the witch and his wand. "Miss is come to save, Sir."

"I shall deal with your treachery later," Snape growled. "What possessed you to aid this…Girl…Across time?"

"Sir is not Dorie's any longer," the tiny house elf glared as she faced him her fists on her hips; tears filling her enormous eyes.

Oddly, Severus was hurt by this pronouncement. Dorie was one constant he had come to count on and to have her disavow him tightened the area around his heart. "Dorie is helping Sir's Miss because Miss wants to save Sir and Dorie is not wanting to lose Sir again!" Then without warning Severus found himself set upon by the weeping house elf, clinging to his shirt and by extension him.

"Dorie," Severus stared aghast at the weeping bundle. His voice a cross somewhere between confusion and perplexed, "This is ludicrous behavior and I demand you release me immediately."

"D-Dorie," the weak voice of the girl in his bed drew Severus' gaze. She tried to lift her hand to the crying elf, but her arm fell limply back to the blanket. Severus frowned; the girl was unnaturally pale. The ritual utilized a great deal of magical energy as well as an exceptional amount of the traveler's life force. He would need to brew a blood replenishing potion and perhaps even a restorative for the foolish chit.

"Dorie," Severus snapped, "Your Mistress is in need of tending."

The elf immediately pulled away with an apologetic, "Oh, Miss!" Snapping her fingers Dorie covered the girl to the waist with a cotton sheet. "Dorie is apologizing for forgetting her duty!" Then snapping her fingers again the elf blinked out of view.

Glaring down at the bleary eyed girl Severus sneered, "You are a very foolish girl! Meddling in time can only result in horrifying consequences, of which none of us will wish to endure!"

"Perhaps, Pr-professor," she murmured, her honey-brown eyes meeting his without reservation. "However, the future as it stands is horrifying in its own right."

"I am dead," Severus stated with an arched brow, "In that future."

"Yes-s," she nodded her eyes losing focus.

This was not news to Severus; he had known since the day he went to Dumbledore that he would die in the wizarding Armageddon to come. "And- him-," he inquired, "did he prevail?" The girl was silent for so long he thought she would ignore the question. When she spoke the answer was not what he had expected.

"N-no," she shook her head for good measure.

Severus had never been so angry; in fact, he would have doubted that even he could boil with such rage. Reaching out he grasped the girl's upper arms hauling her into a semi-sitting position, her head lolling backward as if too heavy to hold erect. There were so many things he wished to say, shout and snarl, but all he seemed capable of was an animalistic howl of outrage.

"He was defeated," he snarled.

"Ye-yes," she murmured thickly, causing Severus to thrust her from him. She fell back to the bed like a rag doll and absent the strength to move remained sprawled before him.

"What have you done," he whispered his face ashen with fear and disbelief. "You've doomed us all!"

"No," the girl's voice was stronger now, but her movements were still laborious as she struggled to rise, as she grasped his left arm with hers. "No," she shook her head. "My t-time is already gone and this time things wi-will- be different…You and I, we can save Lily's son. We can give him the life Dumbledore denied him…You can live…Please, I-," Snape listened to the impassioned pleas of the girl and was not surprised when her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she passed out, slumping on to the pillows her cool fingers covering the hideous mark on his skin.

Seconds later, Dorie popped into existence beside the girl and began murmuring to the girl, stroking her hair away from her face as she cooed and soothed the girl lovingly. Severus remembered nights when he'd been locked in the basement and it was only Dorie's gnarled fingers smoothing his hair that let the tears cease and allowed a scared and lonely boy to sleep.

"Dorie," he sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose and let his eyes travel to the house elf that had been his constant. "What have you done?"

His, no, the girl's elf turned large, misty eyes on him as she tended to the girl. "Miss came here after-after Sir was gone. Dorie watched as she searched, looking for a way to save Sir. I listened as she wept; tears for Sir and Harry Potter and tears for Miss and felt her magic touch this place and it felt like Sir's magic and I knew Dorie would be Miss's and Miss would save Sir and Sir wouldn't leave Dorie."

"Dorie," he sank to the bed beside the girl. "I have known since that day, the day I betrayed Lily that-," his words were interrupted by a disapproving mewl from Dorie.

"Sir made a mistake and Sir paid," she thumped his left arm where the dark mark was beginning to gain power, "Keeps paying!"

"Betrayal has a higher price, Dorie!"

"Sir paid," the little house elf growled.

"They died because I-," Severus cried, standing from the bed, turning his back on the elf as his fingers pulled at his hair.

"No," it was the quietly spoken words from the girl that had him turning around, "She died because Peter Pettigrew betrayed her. You saved them more than once; even though you hated James for the way he'd treated you and were heart broken by Lily's inability to forgive such a little thing."

"You don't know," he growled as he narrowed his black gaze upon the girl.

"I know," the girl assured him, "I know that you deserve better than to die hated and reviled by your own side, our side, and unappreciated by the other because one megalomaniacal old man decides to play a real-life game of wizard's chess." Her words were weak, but she kept her gaze steady upon him as she spoke. "You helped Lily incant the blood magic that she used to protect her son and you warned them numerous times when the Death Eaters got too close."

"Dumbledore," he muttered as he shook his head denying her words.

"Dumbledore," she sneered, and he couldn't help but frown at the hatred she seemed to display in each syllable of the name. "Has no right to dictate the price for your forgiveness; he is the one that allowed Tom Riddle to go unchecked. He saw the boy, twisted by hatred and neglected, and he knew what he could become, but Dumbledore did not wish to change the boy. The things I know about Dumbledore would send him to Azkaban for the kiss and believe me if I get the chance that is exactly where he'll be."

"I warn you," Severus growled through gritted teeth as he leaned close to her face, "I will protect Dumbledore he is the only hope the wizarding world has left."

"And he is waiting for a boy to become a man before he does anything," she lifted her head until she was nearly touching him as she continued. "I know you do not believe Harry Potter is the only way to end this; divination is a wooly subject and Trelawney gave one true prophecy and is a laughing stock. Complete the ritual with me and you will understand."

"Understand what," he raked his eyes down her exposed body before meeting her gaze again with a cruel sneer on his face, "I doubt there is much you have to offer."

Her laughter was not the response he expected, "Oh, sir, I am so glad to see you again," she smiled at him with what he believed to be a look of relief.

"You have no idea what you are saying!" Severus moved to step away, but the girl caught her fingers in his hair as she held him still with a hand at his neck.

"I do," she murmured as she let her thumb slide along his throat to rest upon his erratically beating pulse. "I came here to right many wrongs, but if all I do is safe you from them it will have been worth every drop of my blood. We can do this without completing the ritual. I know all I need to know to end this before it begins. I will not be another master to you; I am willing to accept your decision as long as you are willing to work with me."

"You would allow yourself to cease to exist if I should decide against completing the ritual?"

"That was always a possibility," She smiled a little sadly at her erstwhile professor, "You never liked me I was a frizzy-haired, buck-toothed little know-it-all sorted into your rival house. I just want to set you free." The last words were gasped as the girl once again lost consciousness and her fingers slithered along his exposed neck like a caress as her hand fell to the pillow beside her head. Severus frowned and grasped the girl's wrist between long, pale fingers, her pulse was erratic and she had not regained her color.

"Dorie," he demanded, "Bring me the book quickly." No sooner had the words left his lips than Dorie was gone and back again holding the large book out to him. Opening it and flipping to the Blood-Time spell. "Indietro Nel Tempo," Severus mumbled as he began to read and with each word he began to understand exactly what she had done.

Severus didn't know how many times he'd read the passage through before he couldn't bring himself to look at them again. She had essentially damned her own soul in crossing from her time to his; she had not only bound her body in servitude to him, she had surrendered her magic and soul to him as well. She knowingly used virgin's blood in the spell and in so doing had sealed her fate. They would have to seal the bond if she was to live longer than a few lunar cycles, it was the only way. If she'd cast the incantation sans maidenhead she would have been recovering so much faster, but because Dark Magic twisted anything of purity and worth she would take several months to waste away unless they completed the bond.

"I don't expect you to seal the bond," she murmured, moving her hand with great effort to rest upon his on the book. "I know you love Lily."

"Love," he sneered. "I am incapable of that emotion."

"No," she shook her head and with a slight smile upon her lips she continued, "You loved her before he twisted it."

Severus narrowed his black eyes on her as he all but through the book across the room. "You believe I do not deserve to die defeating the Dark Lord and yet you come here resigned to a slow painful death. If I am this paragon of virtue, surely, I would do all that is in my power to save you."

"I know you would," she sighed and looked away, "but I made a choice when I came here. I cou-could have gone to s-someone and-and-," she blushed, stammering to a stop, biting her lower lip.

"Fucked them," he sneered.

"Yes," she turned angry eyes on him as she hissed the one word.

"Why didn't you," he demanded, reaching out to wrap the fingers of his left hand around her throat, exerting just enough pressure to ensure she felt the threat they implied, and using them to hold her gaze, "Why didn't you?"

"You've been owned," she murmured and her eyes filled with tears, "I won't be like them, but this magic can put right something Dumbledore and Lily Potter did to you."

"You believe the feelings I have held in the darkest recesses of my heart are not true," he asked as allowed his finger to gently stroke her chin.

"I believe them to have been true," she shuddered and he saw her thighs shift restlessly beneath the sheet from the corner of his eye. "There is one other effect of the blood magic Dorie and I invoked."

Severus frowned; she was implying Dumbledore and Lily had manipulated his feelings in some way. Searching his own memories and studying the emotional connection he felt for his now dead best friend Severus was shocked to realize the little witch was correct. "I have been—made to feel as I do?"

"Yes," she murmured and he frowned when a tear slipped from the corner of her eyes and slid into her hair.

"What," he demanded.

"Amore Per Sempre potion," she licked her lips and met his eyes as she explained. "The Love For Always potion is not like other love potions because it can only be brewed using the willingly given blood of the subjects, but there is no stipulation that the blood donor know it is to be used in the potion, just that the blood is from a willing participant and willingly consumed."

"While I was helping her secure her son's life," Severus murmured.

"Yes," she agreed, "Dumbledore told her that you could not be trusted to remain true to Harry unless they used your deep abiding love for her."

"But she loved Potter," he denied.

"The Love For Always potion only affects the principals if they take it," she murmured. "Can you think of anytime you ate—or drank anything given to you by her hand?"

Severus laughed, a deep pain filled laugh that sounded more like a wounded howl than mirth, "She gave me cake. We had finished the wards of the safe house and the blood magic that would insure her son's life if she sacrificed herself for him in that place. She made a small birthday cake, but refused to eat any because she was still trying to lose the baby weight." He could tell his story was not news to her, "But you knew this did you not?"

"Yes," she admitted.

"And what will you do if I say that I would prefer to remain as I am," he demanded.

"Then I will give you all of the information you need to save yourself, Harry and the rest of the wizarding world," she answered without a pause.

"So," he arched a brow as he spoke, "You will lay here in my bed wasting away to nothing? What will that accomplish?"

"You can search my memories and do what you have always done; the right thing," she muttered. "I trust you."

"Dangerous," he sneered as he let his eyes skim over her face to her throat watching his fingers stroke the graceful column.

"Imperative," she whispered, "He will come soon and ask something of you that you should never give."

"You think so," he murmured as he let his fingers trace downward to skim along her collarbone and trace patterns on her flesh just above her bare breasts. She was trembling beneath his touch and he was sure if she had not lost so much blood during the ritual she would be flushed with her desire.

"Yes," she answered.

Severus sat quiet for a moment and then he stood from the bed releasing her; looking to Dorie he spoke, "I am going to prepare a blood replenishing draught you are to prepare Miss for the completion of the ritual as outlined in article sixteen on page three hundred and ninety-four of that abominable book!"

She watched him as he moved gracefully toward the door, even without his robes he cut an intimidating figure as he stopped in the door frame and his long graceful fingers reached out to grasp the wood. Turning back to her he let his eyes slide from her unruly hair along her body to her toes before slowly letting his gaze meet hers. The look in his eyes was intense and she knew the sight of her naked flesh had affected him. He licked his lips and she gasped making him smirk. "Eager are we," he lowered his voice to the smooth honey and whiskey drawl he reserved for his most subtle taunting. She would have blushed if she had enough blood within her body to do so. "Tell me, little lioness, what is your name?"

"Hermione," she sighed.

"Hermione—," he coaxed.

"Hermione Granger," she bit her lip as she answered shaking her head, "but that person no longer exists she ceased being when I crossed over." Severus raised an expressive eyebrow and left without another word.

Hermione felt too weak. The magic to bring her here had taken a toll on her and she knew she must have passed in and out of consciousness many times during Dorie's preparations and each time she awoke she could hear Dorie's one sided conversation. "Sir is a good man…Sir is light bound in darkness, but Sir has a good heart. Sir is going to bind you to him and Miss and Sir will keep them safe for all time."

She was naked again; even with her blood lose she knew Dorie was preparing her for the culmination of the blood magic; it caused a wing of fear to flutter in her belly. Hermione felt the stroke of Dorie's cloth over her right foot and heard the tinkling of water into a bowl. The warm water infused the room with the scents of lavender and sandal wood and there seemed to be a cadre of candles hovering above the bed a bit like those found in the Great Hall. "I'm frightened," Hermione murmured.

Dorie froze in the midst of gently cleansing her left calf and ankle, her high pitched voice was oddly comforting as she answered, "Miss is very brave, very noble, to give her blood, body and soul to do right. Sir—Sir will not understand what Dorie already knows—what Miss suspects. Sir has never had what his tender heart needed to flourish and he will kick against the pricks. You see, Mistress did not care for the boy, Master despised him—hurt him, and even the red haired witch did not appreciate his worth. Too long, Sir has been pulled like a bone between two dogs; he needs to know he is a wizard strong and true. He needs to know that when stars fall he will not stand alone."

"What do you know, Dorie," Hermione whispered the question fearfully.

"It took Miss a year to come here and Dorie watched Miss each day as she studied the dark book," the little elf turned and met Hermione's eyes with a smile that would have looked sinister if one did not know the sweet nature of Dorie. "Dorie knows Miss could have chosen the lessor spell from the other book and merged with Sir's mind across time. Miss could have given him all he needed and then gone back to Miss' life, but instead Miss used the Indietro Nel Tempo with virgin blood."

"Information without context would have wreaked havoc," Hermione muttered blushing.

"If Miss says so," Dorie snickered as she went back to her ministrations and helped Hermione raise herself to rest against the headboard. "Miss will bring peace to my little Sir."

"I will try," Hermione giggled, "He really hated me before."

"Sir did as Headmaster ordered him, Miss knows this, Sir will come to care for Miss the same as Miss cares for him."

"How can you be sure," Hermione asked, uncertainly.

"You will give Sir that which no other ever has," Dorie answered matter of factly, "You will trust him with all that is in you. When Sir comes to Miss she must open herself: mind, body and soul. It will break the hold Headmaster has on Sir and the walls keeping Sir a prisoner will crumble. " The cloth ran along the bottom of her foot again and then it was gone. "Soon now," Dorie murmured as she stroked Hermione's hair from her face and over her shoulder. "Sir is calling," the little elf murmured and then she was gone.

Severus stood with shoulders tense and head bowed over the gently bubbling cauldron. His hands braced upon the work table were white as they tried to dig gouges into the hard surface. The potion would be completed within minutes and all he could think about was the woman upstairs in his bed. What did she hope to gain; it made no sense to him. She was here in this time to make sure he lived through the war, but he didn't even know if he wanted to survive.

The potion shimmered and then it was ready; mechanically, Severus lowered the flame and bottled the brew. Calling, "Dorie," Severus stopped the bottle and waited for the house elf. When she arrived he handed her the vial and commanded, "Give her this to drink and finish preparing her. Once you have made her ready leave this house until the sun rises the day after tomorrow."

"Dorie will do as Sir asks," she nodded as she hugged the bottle to her tea-towel covered chest. "Dorie knew Sir would make Miss better. Miss is just what Dorie wanted for Sir when Sir went to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Dorie watched Miss mourn Sir and Dorie knew Miss would bring Sir back to Dorie."

"You should not have helped her," he growled. "Do you have no idea what you have condemned her to?"

"Love," Dorie scowled at him, "Dorie has condemned her to love. Miss is ready for Sir." Then she snapped her fingers and was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Indietro Nel Tempo

CHAPTER TWO

Severus Snape was not a man easily made afraid; in fact, it had been said, unforgivably in his hearing, by Minerva one late night, after the Dark Lord's semi-ending, whilst they had all been a little too deep in their cups to watch their tongues, that he was a very Gryffindor sort of Slytherin. So why was he staring at his scowling reflection in the steam fogged mirror like a Hufflepuff afraid to open the bathroom door. Logically, he frowned, his worst fear should be that she would show him the darkest most hated aspects of himself, but Severus somehow knew that what turned his blood to ice was that maybe, just maybe the witch was right about his second master.

Dorie had left his cellar lab nearly twenty minutes ago and Severus had gone to shower. The tome's instructions only outlined the cleansing ritual for the virgin, but he figured a nice hot shower and a quick shaving spell would be appreciated by the witch waiting to be deflowered in his bed. Studying himself in the aging glass he noted critically that he was a little too thin and his skin was not only pale but a bit jaundiced as well. His chest and shoulders were lightly muscled and sparse smatterings of dark hair trailed down his abdomen into the thick thatch between his thighs.

Frowning he let one hand fondle the aroused flesh. He had never paid much attention to his the other men of his acquaintance to know whether he would be considered larger or smaller than average. Neither had he ever been with a sexual partner that was not paid to stroke more than his ego. Cocking his head to the side he thought about the petite witch and her narrow hips; even if he was considered small the girl would most likely find the invasion of his hard member painful.

Thinking of her as he had seen her, naked and spread across his bed, he closed his eyes and tightened his hand around the throbbing length of his erection. It had been months since he had a woman. Usually he paid for a rut or two throughout the year just to release pent up frustration. Wanking was fine in the short term, but it wasn't the same as feeling a real live woman wrapped around his member. Sometimes, if the whore was too brusque he would pay his coin and get it done and over; however, there was the rare bit of trim that actually enjoyed sex. When he found himself with such a rarity Severus dedicated a good deal of time to learning to please and be pleased. Would the little witch in his bed lay stiff beneath him or would she be marked among the rarities?

His eyes snapped open as the thought occurred to him. With a frown he amended his thoughts, the witch, Hermione—she said her name was Hermione, was not the kind of woman you flipped a galleon to as you buckled your trousers and headed out the door. She had saved herself for someone or something greater than a quick tumble, like many her age.

She had also known that if she remained untouched, her existence would depend upon his consummating the ritual and spilling his seed in her womb, but she had initiated the ritual anyway. She was light, her magic was so bright during the ritual bloodletting that is could have blinded him, and it should have repulsed her, the idea of someone unutterably dark like him possessing her. Yet, as he spoke with her earlier and touched her soft flesh she had seemed aroused even in her weakened state.

That was another thing, he hoped that the combination of blood restorative and energy enhancing potion revived her enough to participate in the act. Severus was not of a mind to complete the consummation if she could not stay conscious or actively take part in the activity. Pulling his dressing gown over his nakedness Severus belted it tightly and moved to the door. He had been whining in the bathroom like a Hufflepuff long enough.

Stealthily, he moved along the landing until he stood in his open bedroom door. He was pleased to see that she was sitting, unaided, in the center of his bed with a sheet loosely held to her breasts as she peered, it seemed, at the window on the far wall of his room. Her riotous curls had been pulled up off her shoulders and neck revealing the seductive line of her spine and the curve of her lower back as it merged with her hips. She looked like an artist's model, posing, ready to be immortalized on canvas. Severus watched as rosy color tinged her skin; she must have felt his eyes upon her.

"What are you thinking," she murmured, turning her head so he could see her profile.

"That you are making a terrible mistake," he warned, leaning his shoulder into the door casement and crossing his arms over his chest. "And you," he inquired, "What were you thinking as you studied your reflection in the window?"

"That I am making a terrible mistake," she huffed, and he watched as an uncertain smile graced her features. Severus felt disappointment and anger at the thought that she may be reconsidering her actions but her next words eased his temper, at least a small bit. "I haven't a clue how to entice a man and I have only ever disappointed you, Sir."

"Tell me what you see when you look at yourself," he murmured, and watched as she immediately turned back to the window and tilted her head to the side as she contemplated her reflection.

"Messy hair, plain features and a scarred body." She sighed.

Moving silently Severus came to a stop beside the bed and lifted his hand to gently run the backs of his fingers up her spine and along her neck. She startled when his fingers made contact, but did not shy away from his touch and that pleased him.

"If I may be so bold," he lowered his voice and made sure it was velvet along her nerve endings. "The sight of you, as you are now is thoroughly enticing; even if the magic did not call for our mating I would have wanted you." She shivered as he allowed his fingers to stroke the side of her throat rhythmically for a moment before gently cupping her chin and urging her to look at him.

The look of fear and hope in her eyes staggered him. Quickly untying his gown he shrugged it off and climbed onto the mattress, kneeling behind her on the bed, he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. Her entire being was trembling and it called to a long subdued quadrant of his soul.

Severus Snape was not a tender man; all of his sexual experience had been with well used women that would have laugh at tenderness from a paying customer, but in this instant, the instant his lips touched hers, Severus wanted to be everything she deserved. This witch had traversed time and braved a feared professor and the likely extinction he would relegate her to, and still she had come—for him.

She sighed and he felt her relax back into him as his lips slowly, softly coaxed her into a deeper kiss. With patience, that he did not know he possessed, Severus waited for her reaction and he was not disappointed when the hand that had been clutching the sheet to her breasts found its way into his hair and her lips opened beneath his inviting him deeper. Slowly, Severus settled his hands at her waist and allowed his thumbs to sweep in lazy circle low on her back as he flicked his tongue out and traced the sharp edge of her tiny teeth...once, twice and then deeper claiming her mouth as his own.

Gasping, Hermione grasped at his silken hair letting her nails scrape against his scalp almost painfully and the discomfort arrowed down his spine pushing his arousal up another notch. Letting his calloused hands skim up her sides he stretched his fingers to their limits and caressed the firm globes of her youthfully firm breasts causing her back to arch and squirm before him.

"Please," she pulled her mouth from his to beg for his touch.

Severus felt a powerful pride that he affected her so; smirking, he slid his left hand to her chin and turned her back to his kiss and immediately plunged his tongue between her trembling lips as his right hand cupped the heavy weight of her breast. Pinching the tightly furled nipple caused her thighs to shift restlessly and a whimper to sound in her throat. Stroking his left hand down her throat, over her sensitive breast to her belly, Severus edged his fingers into the tight bush at the apex of her thighs and smiled as her knees spread ever-so-slightly in innocent invitation. Ending their kiss Severus let his fingers lightly brush the curls but he wanted to see her eyes when his fingers touch her intimately for the first time.

Meeting her languorous golden-brown gaze, "Why are you here," he asked the question he had been asking himself in one form or another since he arrived home for the summer and found her naked and bleeding in his bed. Distantly, he realized it had only been that morning, but it felt like such a long—long time had passed since then.

Cupping his cheek she smiled and whispered, "Look and see," as she met his gaze widening her eyes in invitation. "My mind is your mind," she encourage as she shifted in his embrace and lay back onto the mattress beside him open to him in every fashion. Still he hesitated but when she reached for him he let her arms guide him to lie beside her. She smiled sweetly at him and continued to meet his black gaze silently encouraging him to take her mind, but for all that he had asked the question Severus was not sure he wanted to know the reasons.

So, he bent and without preamble sucked her nearest nipple deep into his mouth startling an inarticulate sound from her lips. Supporting his weight on his right arm Severus released her breast with a loud pop and met her glazed eyes. "And this," he asked, roughly thrusting his left hand between her thighs, two fingers opening her so that his middle finger could stroke her clitoris, "Is this mine, too?"

Her hands grasped his face and she pulled his mouth to hers as she initiated a gasping, biting kiss, her hips thrusting against his hand as she sought what it offered. He could tell when she was close and he pulled his lips from hers to meet her eyes. "Yes," she gasped as her body clenched in release. Her fingers held his face so tightly he thought she might leave their imprint upon his skin. It was then, as her passion glazed eyes fluttered but held his gaze that he finally understood all the girl was offering him.

Shifting over her, his mouth claiming hers fiercely, he settled between her still quacking thighs groaning as her wet heat cradled his throbbing member. Slowly, Severus slipped his cock back and forth through her folds but did not attempt to enter her. Instead he allowed the full length of him to prod and stroke her swollen bundle of nerves until she was trembling uncontrollably beneath him. Letting his lips slide to her throat he scraped his teeth along the vulnerable artery pulsing so erratically there while his hips continued the teasing slip and slide pushing her to another climax.

"Sev-er-us," she called breathlessly, "Please." He had never heard his name spoke in such a way, as though it were a benediction. His cock was painfully hard and he could take no more. Stubbornly, he had denied her his possession, but as her heavy lidded eyes sought his once more he relented.

"I am going to take you now, witch." His voice was silky and dark as he adjusted his hips and the tip of his cock came to rest at her still pulsing entrance and lifted his head to meet her gaze. Winding his hands in her tousled hair he held her head still so that she could not turn away from what was to come. Not that she seemed inclined to fight against him in any way.

Pressing forward with both mind and body Severus was caught by how trustingly the little witch lay beneath him as he stretched her body and entered her consciousness. The first thought to cross her mind was about the pain his entrance was causing. With an effort Severus paused in his advance of her body and could feel the barrier that would mark her as his for all time. He had been right earlier she was a tiny, little witch.

Her eyes widened when she read his intention and her voice pleaded, "Don't stop."

Searching her thoughts, soaking in her feelings Severus furrowed his brow and lent down claiming her swollen lips as he thrust his hips forward and buried himself to the hilt within her tight canal. Her eyes fluttered at his painful invasion but she did not block his mind and he felt her wonderment at the strangeness of having her professor inside her so completely.

Trembling with the effort to restrain his natural compulsion to pound into the little witch an take his pleasure, as he would have done a Knockturn Alley whore, Severus instead took up a slow and equally satisfying thrusting as he demanded roughly, "Show me, witch!" And she did. Dropping every barrier protecting her not inconsiderable mind she showed him everything.

First, she answered his earlier question of why when she showed him the books given to her after Dumbledore's death, one a book of fairy tales and the other handwritten nightmares. She nudged him toward one specific memory and he watched as she lay on her warded cot, somewhere in the Forest of Dean, and slid her small hand into her denims and under her knickers so she could stroke herself.

Her teeth were clenched and her eyes closed tight as she frantically worked her over-tired body to an almost painful release. His name spilled from her lips and he knew that was the first time she had ever imagined him as her lover. The intensity of that moment spilled over into this one and Severus searched for other such times as he increased his pace and rolled his hips. Hermione was gasping and moaning with her nails digging into his forearms as he caught a spot within her that sent her into orgasm.

Her mind shattered briefly as she came apart in his arms and the pulsing grip of her body pulled his release from his body with a great racking sob from his chest. The dark-blood magic she and Dorie initiated flared and then stabilized; he felt a constriction around his heart loose as he felt his seed filling her and heard her moan of welcome. She wrapped her legs and arms around him as her mind settled again and his cock remained firmly planted within her delicious warmth as he guided her thoughts back to the books she had received upon Dumbledore's death.

In moments he had completed a book, that had taken her months while hiding and on the run to read, in three strokes of his body into hers she showed him the truth about his life. Bits of larger entries stood out in her mind, as if they were beacons, he could not help but internalize each poisonous fragment.

"_**Ariana had another fit today…Headmaster came to tell me that mother died in a magical accident, but I know it was Ariana. I will have to do the right thing; I suppose and take over her care. I hate it!"**_

"_**I used my not inconsiderable influence over dear Grin to search for the Deathly Hallows, in my stead. He has similar thoughts on the muggle disease and he is a known anarchist so I will not be tied to the Hallows if anything should go wrong."**_

"_**I shall never underestimate the power of sex to sway even the bitterest heart to romantic gestures. Grin came to stay with us; Aberforth was predictably confrontational and things escalated. In the end Ariana was dead. I believe Grin may have done it to free me from my entanglement. I shall have to thank him properly."**_

"_**Grin found the Death Stick and, to my everlasting pain, took it upon himself to take it from Gregorovitch. I was very sad to realize he has nearly out lived his usefulness."**_

"_**Today dawned the morning of Grindlewald's crushing defeat—at my own hands—No one save Aberforth is even aware that I had any part in GrindlewaId's rise. The resistance brought to bear against us forced me to realize that the Wizarding world could not be ruled by force; and so, I set about conquering the magical populace through benevolence. There would be no phoenix-like army set against the savior of the Wizarding World…Peace was the trap baited with rumors of a coming dark lord. The Elder Wand is now mine and any trace to me erased."**_

"_**I was sent to notify a new student of their acceptance into Hogwarts. His name is Tom Riddle and he seems a twisted-sort. I could see in his mind every foul thing he had done. He has quite a track record."**_

"_**Tom is sure to channel his hatred into an attempt at dominating the wizarding world. He has already shown he is capable of great treachery; a student died today. I convinced the Headmaster that it was one of Rubeus Hagrid's many creatures. I need to keep Tom where I can watch his progress."**_

"_**Tom is making the wizarding world tremble and many of the Slytherin students have already joined his cause. There is one boy, a half-blood, which is such a tenderhearted boy. I believe I will be able to guide him into a position that will work to my advantage."**_

"_**I took measures to separate Severus from Lily Evans. She was having a far too positive effect on the boy. I believe that she will make the right decision and I hope that after her defection the boy will run to Tom and his ilk."**_

"_**To think those insignificant whelps, bent on bullying and tom foolery, would one day become organized was laughable. However, it soon became clear that James Potter and his band of merry men would eradicate Tom Riddle from out of the wizarding world and that; well, that, I could not allow. Peter had always been a disgustingly sycophantic rodent of a boy and it did not take much to sway him to betray his only 'true' friends."**_

"_**He is disgusting! I told him so to his face and still he fell at my feet pleading with me to save 'his sweet Lily'. His guilt will prove a nice motivator in the years to come."**_

"_**Tom is dead, or as good as. The same cannot be said for Lily and James Potter they appear to be very cold, dead corpses. I used the opportunity to frame Sirius Black he was becoming a nuisance."**_

"…_**in the end they were all like sheep, easily led and a word from me had them lining up to be willing sacrifices to the Greater Good." **_

Closing his eyes Severus cut the connection. He was right to have feared knowing the truth. Slumping he pressed his face into the witch's neck and tried to draw a deep breath, but he found he could not.

"Shh—," she soothed and he felt her gentle hands petting his head and shoulders as she crooned comforting nonsense into his ear. It was then he realized he was crying, great racking sobs. Severus felt instant shame; he had not cried in years. He tried to pull away from her but she held firm and in the end he lay in her arms stunned and—broken.

"Everything I have believed," he muttered.

"I know," she acknowledged, softly.

"You said he would come here and ask something of me," he prompted her.

"If today is the first day of summer holiday then he will arrive tomorrow in the morning," she informed him.

"You have a plan," he asked.

"Keep you safe," she whispered into his ear and pressed her lips to his shoulder.

"So, simple," he sneered and she laughed as she felt it against her throat.

"Nothing is ever simple where you are concerned," she sighed and shifted her hips slightly. He must be growing heavy. Raising himself onto his hands he levered his body off of hers, causing her to whimper and protest as he withdrew from her to settle beside her.

He meant to put distance between them, but she immediately rolled into his side and draped her arm, leg and unruly hair over him. She seemed quite content to remain suckered to him like a leech, but he was feeling manipulated and not a small bit angry that this slip of a girl dared to cross time to tear his world apart. She seemed to know a great deal about him and it felt—contrived.

"Did you shag me; was it to make sure I would remain on the right side of all this," he demanded.

"What," she growled and he felt her body freeze and then he felt her magic race over his skin from every point at which they touched. Even her hair was crackling with her rise of power.

"It seemed like a simple enough question," he answered coldly.

"Now you are just trying to tick me off," she hissed, pushing herself up with a hand planted dead center of his chest. He groaned as her full weight came to bare on that hand before she shifted over him straddling his hips. "You know why!"

"You do not know me," he narrowed his eyes on her, "So, either you wanted to ensure I stayed on the side of the 'Light' or you really did not want to cease to exist."

With a howl of rage she threw her arms wide and Severus found himself tied to the bed with a very real gag across his mouth. She had not used her wand or even verbalized her spell and yet here he was trussed up like the star of some bondage flick.

"I can't talk to you right now," she snarled, glaring down at him. She thrust her hand toward the floor and his robe flew to her. Struggling to don the gown and make a graceful exit from his lap she stumbled from the bed and to his bedroom door before she turned around and added in a frighteningly, good impersonation of his deadly, cool voice. "Obviously, sex really does destroy perfectly good male brain cells. I'll be in the shower when you come to your senses, but I warn you if you ever ask such a stupid, dunderheaded question again I will not be held responsible for my actions!"

AN: I realized a bit late that I never put a disclaimer on my fic…I would have thought it was perfectly obvious that I did not own the characters, but here it goes…I do not own them and only like to take them out and see where they like to go.

The Italian from the former chapter is loosely translated below. Also, thank you to those that took time to review.

Sangue nel tempo eterno -Blood through time eternal

Due cuori attraverso il sangue del puro intrecciate - two hearts through blood pure entwined

Attraverso gli occhi aprire la mente e sappiamo tutti - through the eyes open the mind and know all

Anime montate e spiriti uno – Souls mated and spirits one

Sementi e terreno fertile, bianco e nero, caldo e freddo, maschio e femmina si incontrano - seed and fertile ground, black and white, hot and cold, male and female converge

truth and knowledge bound in virgin blood - Verità e conoscenza in sangue vergine

Indietro nel tempo- Back in time


	3. Chapter 3

Indietro Nel Tempo

CHAPTER THREE

When the little witch finally turned off the water and slid the curtain open she jumped a foot and let loose an ear piercing scream, which had dogs for miles howling in sympathy, at the sight of him. He supposed it was not every day that she found herself staring at her naked and glaring professor. Although, the way her eyes fluttered and dropped to his waistline was promising; aside from the deafening howl she appeared to be amenable to further exploration— exploration that would have to wait until they discussed a few things.

Severus straightened, narrowing his dark eyes with his trademark sneer firmly set, to his full height and folded his arms firmly across his chest. The little witch's eyes dilated and she swallowed heavily as she finally met his fierce gaze. He was quite satisfied with this response, but hid his smirk behind a well perfected scowl as he drawled with exaggerated enunciation, "You tied me to the bed."

Still clutching her pounding chest she matched him scowl for scowl before placing her fists on her naked, shower dampened hips and arching one brow as she replied mockingly, "Well spotted, Professor."

His eyes narrowed further, though it was slightly disconcerting that she did not seem in the least intimidated by his black look and that was not the response he had been expecting. Dropping his arms and stalking closer he tried again, "You-tied-me-to-the-effing-bed!"

"Yes," she agreed, meeting him mid-stalk so that the moist heat from her freshly showered body caressed his chilled skin, "And you asking me a terribly ignorant question…Tit for tat." He gaped at the little witch; he must look like a cod fish with his mouth unhinged, as it was.

_All is lost_, Severus thought, with no small amount of trepidation, as he found his gaze zeroing in on her luscious breasts as soon as the word 'tit' left her delectable lips. He was shocked and amazed that he, Severus Snape, could not seem to retrieve his brain from his nether regions long enough to put the little chit in her place for tying him to the bed. Worse, the little witch knew about his weakness. If there was one thing he would not—could not—stand for it was being seen as a weakling. It took nearly eleven years of cold distain, severe, near-puritanical dress all buttoned up with iron clad control, to shed the contemptuous reputation of sniveling like a homesick first year. Severus would never give anyone the power to hurt him so completely, again.

"What have you done to me," he murmured. "I felt—something," without consciously thinking about it his hand rubbed as his sternum.

"Oh, Severus," she sighed and cupped his cheek gently. "I didn't come here to tear your world apart; I came to stop tremendous wrongs. I chose the Indietro Nel Tempo because I wanted the chance to know you, the real you and not the puppet forced to dance to Dumbledore's tune."

"You think so little of me," he sneered, "You think I have no capacity to determine my own fate?"

"Besides Harry Potter," she told him earnestly, "You are the only person I trust. Harry because he was made little better than a sacrificial lamb, manipulated and groomed to walk willingly to slaughter, and you because you would die, willingly, for the son of the man that stole your love."

"Love? I think you have demonstrated admirably that I cannot love without chemical inducement," Severus hissed at her last words, "What did you hope to gain by freeing me from, as you claim, Albus and Lily's cunningly brewed potion? What power have you usurped from me?"

"I am a Gryffindor," she snapped, "you prat! And the only thing I hoped for was that you might bind me to you, but I truly did not expect that you would. I could have shagged any number of people before I came here. One of my best friends would have happily shagged me stupid if I had let him, but I did not want him. You saw my memories you know what I wanted."

"Inconceivable," Severus sighed and buried his face in his hands shaking his head.

"What," she asked confused when he started laughing, almost manically.

"It is inconceivable," he murmured, as he tangled his hands in her wet hair and dragged her body against his with a hiss of appreciation, "Little witch that out of everything you just said the only words that made it through my sexually debilitated brain were—tit for tat and shagged me stupid."

"Out of all—," her indignant response was cut short as his mouth claimed hers. He unceremoniously backed her against the tile wall and almost painfully pulled his hands from her hair to lift her, effortlessly, onto his straining cock. Breaking the kiss he pressed his forehead to hers as they strained against each other.

"You have been in my life less than six hours," he groaned, shifting his grasp on her thighs and angling his thrusts to give her the most pleasure. "Six hours and you have already shagged me stupid. How the bloody hell are we supposed to save the world if all I can think about," he thrust deep and hard emphasizing his next words, "Is—shagging –you—stupid?"

Her eyes widened and her fingers clutched his face again in that bone crushing grip that told him she was about to come; which she did with another scream that got the dogs barking again. He thrust into her twice more before he found his own release and sagged to the floor clutching her to him as his breathing evened out.

After some time Hermione lifted her head from his shoulder and stroked the hair from his face so she could meet his slumberous gaze. Smiling softly traced her fingers along his jaw and then his lips before stroking the length of his nose and placing a chaste kiss on the tip. He tried to glare but it was ruined by the glimmer of a twinkle in his dark eyes.

"Is that really the only thing you heard," she asked when he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to her lips.

"No," he snorted, "But you are going to have to refrain from using terms like tit for tat and shagged stupid. Especially, if we happen to be naked otherwise I will not be responsible for my actions."

"Has it really only been six hours," she asked as he tucked his head into her neck and she rested her cheek against his sweat dampened hair. "Seems like days and days don't it?"

"Weeks," he drawled with a put upon air but he lifted his head and smiled at the glaring witch before she could take offense, "Very good weeks." Hermione rolled her eyes at him and made to extricate herself from his sated frame.

"Where do you think you are going," he demanded as he held her in place.

"I am starving and if we are ever going to get started with saving the world we need to get dressed, especially if we plan to do anything that does not include," she paused dramatically and began to spell, "S-H-A-G-G-I-N-G!"

Severus growled, "Minx," and reached for her, but she batted his hands away and leapt from his arms laughing as she ran from the bathroom. Using the wall to pull himself up Severus contemplated going after the little witch, but decided a shower and fresh cloths would be the better idea.

Coming downstairs, Severus found Hermione standing in his kitchen wearing one of his black cotton shirts with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and nothing else. At least he assumed she was naked under the provocatively buttoned garment. She was busy preparing eggs and she had a faraway look on her face as she folded the eggs into a fluffy scramble.

Severus frowned as he watched her. Without looking she lifted her hand toward a cupboard over the refrigerator and with a gesture it opened and two small glasses floated to the table. The witch obviously knew his home as only someone who lived in a place could know it. Letting his eyes wander down her slight frame to her slender legs he remembered them as they had been less than an hour ago, tight around his hips. His train of thought aggravated him; for nearly eleven years he had not found women or sexual release to be of much importance.

Obviously, the potion had worked exactly as Dumbledore intended—Dumbledore—the thought of the man he had raised upon a pedestal and revered made him sick inside. All along Severus had thought the Headmaster the most respectable and noble wizard, even before he turned from the Dark Lord's service. He felt duped; his finally recovering trust in himself was no less shattered this time than it had been when he made such a disastrous decision to join the Death Eaters a little over eleven years ago. This time he could at least comfort himself that instead of being one of very few to have bought the party-line he, it seemed finally, had something in common with the rest of the free-wizarding world.

She must think him a fool for having, twice, been taken in by charismatic wizards. Resisting the urge to sigh plaintively Severus thought back to the time he spent in the witch's mind and was reassured by the realization that she too had thought Dumbledore to be one of the most respectable and noble wizards alive.

Stroking his lips, absently, he watched her graceful, efficient movements as she plated the eggs and retrieve toast from the warmer. He could not remember his mother ever cooking in this kitchen. Logically, he supposed that she had, but he had never watched her complete such a mundane task as far as his memory served. Glancing at the table in the middle of the room he could remember eating a meager meal around the chipped Formica table and even watching his father drink until he carried on conversations with himself. Never once had he sat at the table and watched his mother prepare a meal or smile as brightly at him when she found him in the room, as Hermione did when she turned to put the food on the table.

"Forgive me," In a flash he realized that Dorie must have done all the cooking when he was a child. Leaning against the casement he folded his arms over his chest and murmured, "I gave Dorie the night off."

"I only made eggs, sir, it is hardly a gourmet meal. Perhaps, I should be the one apologizing to you or in the very least your taste buds. I am not a very good cook." Hermione looked up as she put the plates on the table and smiled as she gestured for him to sit and eat. "Dorie told me before she left, but I asked her to come home if she finishes the task I set her." She sat down and waited for him to join her.

"Thank you," he sighed shrugging away from the wall and settling in the seat directly in front of her.

"You're welcome, Severus."

"What task have you set her," he asked as he forked up a mouthful of eggs.

"Oh," she shrugged as she murmured off-handed, "Nothing that needs discussing at the moment. We can speak about Malfoy and the Dark Lord's horcrux later."

At the mention of the horcrux Severus promptly choked on his eggs. Coughing and spluttering he demanded, "Horcrux," he was glad to see she looked properly chastised, "When were you planning to tell me about the Horcrux?"

"What did you think we were doing traipsing all over hell and back," she countered, "Don't tell me the only thing you took from my memories of hunting the Horcrux was me frigging myself blind."

Severus stared at her for several moments as he replayed the memories of her time in the tent. Upon a second inspection of the memories she had shared it was obvious what they were doing, even though it seemed as if they chased their own tails mostly. "You are quite right," he sighed, "my mind was obviously occupied elsewhere when the cursed objects were dealt with. I, also, think that the phrase 'frigging myself blind' should be added to our list of taboo words."

"Yes, well," she smiled, knowingly at him as she continued. "I'll try to remember that, shall I?"

"If you please," he smirked and sipped from his glass of juice, "So, horcrux, plural?"

"Yes," she nodded, "There are seven."

"And I thought his insanity had limits," he muttered as he took a bite of toast, which was like sawdust in his mouth.

"The first thing we need to do is get ready for the white-bearded bastard's visit tomorrow," she informed him, "He is going to be very—," she frowned as if finding an appropriate word was proving difficult, "Dumbledore is going to dislike me intensely and he might question your loyalty or turn against you if he feels I have an undue influence. The potion was meant to give him absolute control over you and he may suspect it has been counteracted if your motivations change unexpectedly because of my arrival."

"True," Severus questioned with a hint of self-deprecation that bordered on something less humble, self-loathing, "Have you thought about how to explain the potion's failure to ensnare my heart and thereby my fealty unto my dying breathe?"

"Yes," she nodded, glancing at him uncertainly. "You won't like it, I am sure, but we really have no other choice."

"Well, then," Severus purposefully placed his fork in his plate and pushed it aside, wiping his mouth with a napkin before looking once more into the honey-brown of her eyes. "Perhaps you will expound so that I can react in the predicted way before being forced to comply with yet another master's plan."

The hurt look and the gasp that dissolved her former smile let him know his dart had hit its mark, but he felt no satisfaction in having hurt the girl's feelings. Setting her own plate away and glancing away from him, as if she could not bear to look upon him, Hermione took a deep breath. She looked as if she was diminished but when she spoke her words were like an angry hiss, "Now, you see why I subjugated myself to you, Severus Snape. I do not what to be lord and master!"

"I gave myself to you," She stood up from the table with an angry jerk and moved to stand at the sink staring unseeing out the cloudy window into the miserable back garden.

"Why," He asked warily as he moved to stand again in the doorway to watch her. "Why would you give someone who has shown on more than one occasion to be unable to make decisions that will not result in the end of the wizarding world as we know it?"

Her back was straight and her hair was crackling with magic, she looked glorious, as Hermione murmured, "I just want to give you a chance at a real life."

"No," he disagreed, firmly, "that is not why."

"How dare you," she whirled on him then and moved toward him with flashing eyes. She was a scant step away when he reached out and grasped her clenched fists, pulling her until their bodies were flush against each other. "How dare you presume to tell me that isn't the reason?"

"You forget," he sneered as he twisted them around and pinned her to the casement with his superior height and brought her hands up over her head. "I have been inside you, little witch. I know."

"No," she gasped, shaking her head and her eyes glistened with tears as he allowed the sneer to leave his features.

"You have endangered our world by coming here," he bent to stroke his nose across her cheek and into her hair where her jaw met her throat. "Be truthful," he nipped her pulse with sharp teeth, but then soothed the spot with his tongue. "Tell me why you have bound us, so."

"I—I," she stammered and gasped when one of his hands found its way to her bare breast beneath the black silk of his purloined shirt.

"You what," he pressed, demanding that she continue as he let his teeth and tongue explore her throat.

"For you," she gasped as his long fingers tweaked her nipple.

"No," he growled allowing his teeth to mark her collarbone "Say it, witch!"

"D—Dumbledore," she whispered, closing her eyes tightly and clenching her teeth against acknowledging the deepest darkest truth. Severus had seen it, her carefully guarded secret kept mostly hidden from even herself. "Dumbledore…"

"Yes," Severus murmured, "Dumbledore," lifting his head to look at the trembling witch. "Shh—," he soothed when he noticed the tears flowing down her cheeks, "You needn't cry," his hands cupped her cheeks and he used his thumbs to wipe her tears from beneath her tightly closed eyes.

"Why," she asked, opening her eyes to glare up at the man who had ripped her soul open. Severus smoothed her hair away from her face and gently tucked it behind her ear, silently ignoring her question. Hermione lowered her arms and took hold of his face when it became clear he would not answer, "Why," she repeated.

Severus shrugged, "You seemed too content to fiddle with the future without truly understanding why you took such ill-advised chances with the fate of our people. I was unwilling to allow you to continue on in your ignorant state."

Her eyes narrowed when he uttered the word ignorant, but she did not immediately react to his statement. Instead she searched his dark eyes and face for long moments before she nodded her head, smiling sadly in understanding. Her voice was quiet when she spoke, "No," she denied, "I won't let you hide behind the idea that my sole reason for being here is my hatred of Dumbledore; it isn't."

"Then you are still deluding yourself," he tried to pull away, but she held him firm.

"You are one to speak about self-delusions," she snorted, "You, yourself, admitted that you have been inside me. You know what I felt—what I feel, but you cannot allow any little bit of happiness."

"I am supposed to be happy now, am I?"

"You are supposed to see what is right in front of your face," she glared, "You are Severus Snape, spy-extraordinaire, can you honestly tell me that you think my hatred of Dumbledore is the only reason I traversed time?" Her hand covered his mouth when he opened it to do just that, "Don't," she murmured, "I can see the intent to lie in your eyes, Severus, and I will not let you cling to the falsehood any more than you allowed me to do."

"This is insanity," he closed his eyes with a weighty sigh, "Your reasoning was insanity."

"It was a bit," she smiled ruefully; "My parents were gone, not dead, but gone all the same and by my hand. I lost many friends and none of it needed to even happen. When I first came here it was only days after the final battle, but I was so used up. I had just spent a year in a tent, with two adolescent boys, hunting pieces to a madman's soul under some of the worst conditions imaginable. So, maybe my emotions were a bit raw but it took a little over a year for Dorie and me to work out the intricacies of the ritual. Believe me when I say that my need for you to be saved was upper most in my mind when I stripped myself bare and painfully made my way eight years backward through time. You cannot deny that my dislike for Dumbledore was negligible compared to the—the desire to change your life."

"What if we fail," he asked, his voice tormented. "Dumbledore is the most loved wizard in Britain."

Her small, delicately boned fingers traced his face soothingly and her mouth curved in a gentle smile as she contemplated his question. "We could fail and we may very well do, but we know his plans both the naïve memories of a silly school girl and the calculating memories of the man who would be king. We can finish this without drawing it out for maximum effect. We can do this and if we do it right the wizarding world will be rid of two megalomaniacs."

"What is your plan," he asked slowly bowing his head and pressing his face into the crook of her shoulder.

"Keep you safe," she murmured in his ear and pressed a kiss to his shoulder as she had done earlier as they lay in his bed. His amused snort made her smile and she wrapped her arms around his waist as she began to outline the first steps they would take to thwart two of the most tyrannical wizards known to wizard-kind. "First," she murmured, "I need you to explain the Cassaforte nel sangue nemico."


End file.
